FUGITIVE tyrant Colonel Gaddafi had a £1million “dead or alive” bounty placed on his head yesterday.

As fighting raged throughout Libyan capital Tripoli, two rebel businessmen in the second city Benghazi put up the kill-or-capture offer to stop the bloodshed.

Rebel leaders also offered an amnesty to any of Gaddafi’s henchmen to either kill the hiding dictator or hand him over – and they would be free men in the new Libya.

Gaddafi, thought to have used a secret network of tunnels beneath Tripoli to flee his opponents, told an Arabic television station his withdrawal was tactical and promised death or victory against rebels.

The US believes he is still in the country but rebel commander Abdel Hakim Belhadj said he did not know where the hated despot or his sons had escaped to, adding: “They ran like rats.”

National Transitional Council leader Mustafa Abdel-Jalil confirmed the amnesty offer for any of the tyrant’s followers who kill or capture him and also spoke of the bounty money put up by the two wealthy rebel sympathisers.

He said: “The NTC supports the initiative of businessmen who are offering two million dinars – or £1million – for the capture of Gaddafi, dead or alive.”

Gaddafi loyalists, however, launched rocket and mortar attacks on several rebel-held areas in Tripoli, including the Bab al-Aziziyah compound close to the Rixos hotel where foreigners are staying.

The tyrant earlier called for residents to “cleanse” the capital of insurgents.

But the transitional government in Benghazi was already on the move to the capital to take over as heads of the new Libya.

And even Gaddafi’s former henchmen admitted last night his reign was over, despite pockets of resistance by die-hard supporters of the Colonel.

Asked by Channel 4 news if a negotiated settlement or safe passage from Libya for Gaddafi were still possible, Foreign Minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi said: “It looks like things have passed this kind of solution.”

Later, Col Khalifa Mohammed, Gaddafi’s deputy chief of intelligence, announced he had defected to the rebels.

Gaddafi’s remaining forces were said to be heading for his home town of Sirte, raising fears of a bloody final showdown with the rebels.

As many as 400 people have been killed and 2,000 wounded during the past four days of fighting in Tripoli.

And hostile fire around the city centre signalled the six-month uprising had not yet completely triumphed. Rebel celebrations took place across the country and thousands gathered in Tripoli’s Green Square, renamed Martyrs’ Square.

But rebel council chief Mr Abdel-Jalil, who was until February a loyal minister of Gaddafi’s, warned the fight was not over. He said: “Until Gaddafi and his sons are captured, we will not rest.”

Pro-Gaddafi forces yesterday launched counter-attacks throughout the capital, forming a “rearguard action” amid rumours Gaddafi fled to one of his various boltholes.

The hunt for him took a bizarre turn after the sound of chickens squawking was heard in an audio tape he had released led to opposition fighters believing Gaddafi was holed up in a southern Tripoli farmhouse, spark-ing violent ­firefights between rebel forces and loyalists. Defiantly, he had reiterated he would fight until “death or martyrdom”.

He demanded Libyans “eradicate the traitors and rats”, warning: “They will slaughter you and desecrate your bodies.”

But Nato claimed Gaddafi’s resistance had all but melted away.

He has plenty of places to hide, however.

Opponents were convinced he was in the Bab al-Aziziya compound until they stormed it on Tuesday – although they did uncover a personal ­photograph album containing pictures of him with former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

They also posed for souvenir photos inside the tent where Gaddafi used to receive foreign dignitaries – and where he met ex-PM Tony Blair for their oil and trade “deal in the desert” in 2004.

And one rebel fighter smiled for a camera as he sat on a couch framed by a golden mermaid with the face of the dictator’s daughter Aisha in her house in the capital.

Rebel army spokesman Colonel Ahmed Bani said: “There are so many rat holes in Tripoli. We are searching for him in the holes.”

The whereabouts of two of Gaddafi’s sons, military commanders Khamis and Muatassim, are also unknown.

Experts say the two most likely places he is hiding in are Sirte and Sabha. Gaddafi’s birthplace Sirte, where he has a huge Mediterranean coastal home, is a heavily fortified city filled with hundreds of heavily armed supporters. However, some 400 miles south of Tripoli lies Sabha, where his military and air force munitions are based.

If he can reach the southern town, reports suggest he could easily slip into the neighbouring African states of Niger and Chad and into exile.

Nato’s governing body, the North Atlantic Council, told military staff to draw up plans to assist a future United Nations mission to ­stabilise the country.

But just eight of Nato’s 28 members have taken part in the military action, with Britain and France leading the way with daily air and sea operations.

The US has provided air intelligence gathering, yet many Nato countries are unhappy with the intervention in Libya.

Nato support will consist of air and sea deliveries of humanitarian aid for the beleaguered population as well as setting up training programmes for Libyan ­security personnel in Europe.